THE company behind one of Weston's most popular nightspots has gone into voluntary insolvency after running into financial difficulties.

Nicholas Siangolas made the decision to put Lazerlight Limited, which runs VII, into a company voluntary insolvency after it recorded debts of more than £1million.

Despite the news, Mr Siangolas and his brother Vassos, who also runs the company, say VII is open for business as usual, and is looking forward to a bumper year of trading.

The firm owes debts of £1.26million to various creditors, although £680,000 of that is owed to company co-owner Vassos Siangolis himself, or his separate Blue Water ventures.

The agreement between the company and its creditors will see them continue to work together, with Lazerlight paying back its debts over the next five years in monthly instalments.

None of the 35 people employed by the company will see their jobs affected.

A spokesman for the company said the fire which burnt down Weston’s Grand Pier in July 2008 was the start of a series of setbacks which included the wet summer and harsh winter of 2010, duty increase, inflation and the economic downturn.

He said: “The prolonged task of the seafront regeneration was probably VII’s thorn, and we know for others too.

“The prevention of clear accessibility to VII’s location and neighbouring businesses was in fact destructive in every way that you could imagine, not a very nice environment to take a family to sit and eat.”

He continued: “The confidence of our creditors’ support has actually managed to save all jobs in our business and together we will do our upmost best to maintain our standard and service to all our customers.

“We are looking forward to trading through 2012 with a more positive outlook and hope that we and Weston have a bumper season. I would also like to thank all our customers for their support and wish them a happy new year.”